Source: cwa-scacanada.ca

For more than 30 years, Debbie Cole has toiled in the union activist trenches and has served in all but one of her Local’s executive positions. With her election today as president of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild (ONG) there are no longer any exceptions.

Cole, a data analyst in the circulation department at The Ottawa Citizen, is stepping in to replace Lois Kirkup, an online editor who left in August to take a one-year position at the Victoria Times-Colonist.

Cole, who became acting president of the ONG last month, also continues in her position as treasurer. All of the three-year terms on the executive are up at the end of December.

A vacant Member-at-Large position was filled today by Robert Bostelaar, editor of the Business section.

The position of vice-president remains open. Cole says she hopes the Guild can stimulate interest among the membership in running for the executive when elections are held on Dec. 14.

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Cole has plenty of experience with union activities: over the years she has served on bargaining committees, the original pay equity team in 1989, and is well versed in occupational health and safety.

The ONG is in the middle of a five-year contract that doesn’t expire until July 2013 so there are no upheavals on the horizon.

However, there have been so many staff cuts at the newspaper now owned by Postmedia Network that the remaining workers are under a lot of stress, says Cole. “People are working very hard just to maintain their professional standards.”

Kirkup, who became president of the ONG in January 1999, will remain part of the CWA Canada family, becoming a member of Local 30223, the Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild. Meanwhile, she’s also deputy-director of the national union and its treasurer.